The Lost Rites and Rituals of Freemasonry by David Harrison

The book examines the Lost Rites of Freemasonry, in particular the mysterious and influential Rites created on continental Europe during the eighteenth century by the likes of Martinez Pasqually, Count Cagliostro and Baron Von Hund. Charismatic figures such as Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, an enigmatic French Mason of the eighteenth century that forged the Rectified Rite out of the teachings of Pasqually and the reorganised Rite of Strict Observance will also be discussed. The eighteenth century saw a number of Masonic Rites developing in France, Germany and Russia, and though some of these Rites ceased to exist by the close of the century, the Rectified Scottish Rite, though changed, still survives today. Other influential figures such as Louis-Claude de Saint Martin and Emanuel Swedenborg are examined, and the influence that these charismatic figures had on the occult revival and later Masonic organisations such as Martinism and the Swedenborgian Rite are analysed in depth. Lost English Rites and rituals are also covered in detail, along with the lost symbolism that vanished after the union of the Antients and the Moderns in 1813